October 16, 2015 UBJ

OCTOBER 16, 2015 | VOL. 4 ISSUE 42

WOMEN’S WORK For more than 50 years, Barbara League has led the way for Upstate women in manufacturing — and the next generation is on its way up pg 14

10.16.2015

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upstatebusinessjournal.com

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

| ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | 3

Spartanburg leaders rally for 5-year visioning plan ASHLEY BONCIMINO | STAFF

aboncimino@communityjournals.com Spartanburg County could soon have a strategic development plan similar to those that lit up Austin, Nashville, Portland and Greenville.

Along with business and community partners, the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce is spearheading the effort to hire Atlanta-based Market Street Services to craft a five-year community and economic development plan for the county.

The 10-month process would result in a unified long-term vision that will move the entire county forward, according to Chamber President and CEO Allen Smith.

“At the end of the 10-month process, this is going to be a product that the whole community helps develop,” said Smith. The chamber is in the process of completing fundraising from community partners to support the plan, he said. “Everybody’s going to be at the table, and as a result everybody is going to be responsible for implementing it.”

Smith would not disclose fundraising goals, but said the chamber is on track to finish the campaign by mid-November and ink a deal with Market Street Services to start in December or January. The company would then use a six-phase inclusive process to develop an actionable plan for maximiz-

“Everybody’s going to be at the table, and as a result everybody is going to be responsible for implementing it.”

Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Allen Smith

ing economic opportunity and improving social conditions.

“They’re going to look at all the entities in Spartanburg and ask, how are they doing?” he said. “We want to get the entire report and assessment, warts and all.”

Market Street has worked with 160 communities in 32 states, and each final deliverable is different and specific to the community. That makes it hard to predict what the final strategies will be, he said.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘What are they going to find?’ or ‘What are they going to do? What is this plan going to contain?’” said Smith, noting that Spartanburg would be the 161st community for Market Street. “If I answer that question, I’m undermining the whole process.”

The six-phase process begins with gathering community and business input during the first two to three months. The Market Street team works

with a 25-30 member steering committee to reach as many stakeholders as possible – including residents, area chambers of commerce, businesses, nonprofits, government entities – using one-on-one interviews, focus groups and online community surveys.

The second phase is a community assessment about the county’s competitiveness as a place to live, work, visit and conduct business.

The third phase identifies and assesses the community’s existing strengths in industry business sectors and clusters, especially those that can be sources of future growth and wealth creation.

The fourth phase is a marketing review that examines existing marketing programs for the county and finds ways to improve them.

The fifth phase involves discussions with a community steering committee to determine overarching goals and plans for the community and economic development strategy.

Finally, the sixth phase is targeted at making sure the developed strategy goes to use, and will include detailed implementation plans with action lists, priorities and timelines.

“The most important part of all those phases is number six, the implementation plan,” Smith said.

“This is a collective effort. This isn’t a chamber plan… This is a community plan.”

4 | THE RUNDOWN |

TOP-OF-MIND AND IN THE MIX THIS WEEK

UBJ

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10.16.2015

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 42 Featured this issue: First look: Fountain Inn’s new Growler Haus New urban living options coming to downtown TR Chapman Products keeps manufacturing in the family

5 12 18

MONEY SHOT: After earning an associate degree in mechatronics, robotics and automation technology at Greenville Technical College, Julia Doherty is now a quality engineer at Magna Exteriors and Magna Interiors, working on the current BMW F-15/F-25 model. Learn more on page 14.

WORTH REPEATING “We’ve invested heavily, millions of dollars, into our technology, and we believe we have the right to protect that intellectual property.” Page 10 “In the mid-’80s we had the choice of laying off the production team or laying off the management team, so that was a no-brainer.” Page 16 “We don’t have loans. We’ve always taken our time to pay for stuff because we feel like if you’re in debt, you’re not really doing business.” Page 18

VERBATIM

On career changes “Somebody said, ‘Why are you still coaching?’

I said, ‘Well, I forgot to get fired, and I’m not going to cheat.’”

University of South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier, at SEC Media Day in July 2015. Spurrier announced his resignation this week.

CORRECTION: An article in the Oct. 9 UBJ, “Upstate banking more crowded than ever,” stated incorrectly that The Bank of North Carolina entered the Upstate market in 2015 with the purchase of CertusBank offices. The bank entered the South Carolina market in 2011 with the purchase of Regent Bank. The purchase of seven CertusBank locations in the Upstate increased The Bank of North Carolina’s locations from nine to 15 as of Oct. 16. We regret our error.

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INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

upstatebusinessjournal.com

| HOSPITALITY | 5

FIRST LOOK

Growler Haus – Fountain Inn APRIL A. MORRIS | STAFF

amorris@communityjournals.com Growler Haus is launching a third location in the Upstate, adding to its Anderson and Spartanburg presence. The Fountain Inn spot held a soft opening recently and started food service this week with Table 301’s Papi’s Tacos leasing the kitchen space.

Behind the concrete bar are 24 taps of rotating craft beers and ciders, many from local or regional producers. Growler Haus offers on-site pints along with 32-ounce and 64-ounce growler fills.

Peppered with couches and cozy armchairs, the atmosphere is designed to be “cozy café,” said beer-tender Laura Collins. The space also features televisions for game nights and a nook with table for larger parties.

Vacant for nearly 15 years, the Main Street space has retained exposed plank walls and the original stamped tin ceiling. Inside the kitchen, a wall mural depicts a village cantina scene for Papi’s Tacos. Near the salvaged wood sign is the “Christopher Walk-in” cooler featuring the unmistakable face of actor Christopher Walken.

Owner Craig Kinley said much of the decision to launch a new location in Fountain Inn was the city’s proactive approach to courting small business and assistance from the Greenville Redevelopment Corporation. A built-in craft beer audience in the form of international employees from about 50 nearby businesses is a plus, said Kinley.

Growler Haus plans to offer Taco Tuesday specials in conjunction with beer flight specials, said Collins.

Photos by April A.Morris

Growler Haus is launching its third location on Main Street in Fountain Inn. “Beer-tender” Laura Collins ready to serve. Chalkboards feature 24 taps pouring a rotating selection of local, regional and national craft beer varieties.

The location offers craft beer on tap and food by Papi’s Tacos. The back wall of the kitchen features a cantina mural.

The Fountain Inn location offers grouped seating, as well as seating nooks.

GROWLER HAUS The “Christopher Walk-in” cooler features the face of actor Christopher Walken.

101 N. Main St., Fountain Inn growlerhaus.com

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INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

upstatebusinessjournal.com

| INSURANCE & SUSTAINABILITY | 7

ACA change spares midsize businesses from rate increases BENJAMIN JEFFERS | STAFF

bjeffers@communityjournals.com Last week President Barack Obama signed a rare change to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), stopping a federal mandate that insurers and business associations say would have raised insurance premiums on many businesses.

The Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees (PACE) Act stopped the requirement that states redefine small employers as businesses having up to 100 employees. Many states define small businesses as having 50 or fewer employees.

The PACE Act received strong bipartisan support in Congress, with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joining on as one of the main Senate sponsors of the bill.

“With the PACE Act quickly signed into law, we have taken a great step forward in protecting small and midsize

businesses from the harmful effects of Obamacare,” Scott said in a statement.

Scott said he is still “committed to a full repeal of the health care law, and will keep working to find solutions that put doctors and patients in charge – not the federal government.”

Insurers of small employers must provide 10 essential health benefits, whereas large group and self-insured plans do not have to offer those benefits.

Small group insurers also have strict community rating rules, which require underwriters to only take into account age, geographic location, family composition and tobacco use when setting rates.

States still have the option to redefine small businesses to include up to 100 employees.

Without the change to the ACA, as many as 80 percent of businesses with 51-100 employees could have seen insurance rate increases, said Howard

Wealth Management • Estate Planning Alternative Investments and More

Securities are offered through SANDLAPPER Securities, LLC (“SLS”), a registered brokerdealer with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Investing in securities whether public or private involve risks including but not limited to the potential loss of some or all of your investment dollars. You should review any planned financial transactions that may have tax or legal implications with your personal tax or legal advisor. Past performance is no guarantee of future results, and investments are not FDIC insured.

“We have taken a great step forward in protecting small and midsize businesses from the harmful effects of Obamacare.”

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott

Einstein, a principal at Rosenfeld Einstein/Marsh & McLennan Agency in Greenville.

Einstein said many midsize businesses didn’t realize they would be affected by the change. “Most of those groups were going to get clobbered and have humongous rate increases,” he said.

To delay the rate increases, insurance companies were offering early renewal options that would postpone the new rates until 2017.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), another of the bill’s main sponsors,

said in a statement, “I’m very pleased that, in this instance, Congress rose above the partisan squabbling to make this improvement to the health care reform bill, and I hope it’s a good omen for further cooperation.”

One of those further reforms could be eliminating the controversial excise tax – also known as the Cadillac tax – on high-cost health plans.

The tax has come under increased criticism lately from Democrats. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made news last month when she came out against the tax. Her Democratic rival U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-N.Y.) is also against the tax.

Einstein said the tax punishes people with a high number of claims or with good benefits. However, repealing the Cadillac tax could be difficult because it is one of the main ways to fund other provisions in the ACA, he said.

For 20 years, she’s seen you invest in her life.

Today, she sees you invest in her dreams.

Recycling the leftovers Food waste recycling could divert tons from landfill APRIL A. MORRIS | STAFF

amorris@communityjournals.com How to divert tons of food waste from landfills was the topic of conversation for generators, recyclers and consumers gathered for the daylong Upstate Food Recovery Networking event Oct. 6 at County Square in Greenville.

Everyone from food waste creators to compost sellers connected on how to shepherd a “table to farm” movement in the Upstate at the event, hosted by the SC Department of Commerce.

In the morning session, Gary Nihart

of Atlas Organics said his operation now collects food waste from multiple Upstate sites, but hauls to a composter in Columbia. Atlas Organics is investigating launching a composting operation in Greenville County at Twin Chimneys Landfill, he said. Nihart anticipates processing up to 12,000 tons yearly for sale to agriculture, landscaping companies and home gardeners.

Michelin North America’s headquarters in Greenville has ramped up recycling over the last three years, said Martin Royaards. The facility that just houses offices generated 25,000 pounds of waste per month, he said.

Now the complex encourages recycling at staff members’ desks along with food waste recycling. Michelin now recycles 3 tons to 4.5 tons per month.

“The hardest thing is to convert people’s behavior,” Royaards said.

However, once they make the switch, “they really take ownership.”

One challenge in food recovery is making sure that compost collection either saves money or breaks even because consumers are not willing to pay higher prices so a producer can recycle food waste, said Kim Brunson, recycle and solid waste program manager with Publix.

More than 600 of its grocery stores

divert food waste, Brunson said. Food the stores cannot use goes first to food rescue organizations and food banks, like the Upstate’s Loaves and Fishes, then for animal feed and then to composting operations, she said.

In addition to composting, food waste can be dehydrated and made into pellets that can be used for vermiculture and agriculture or burned for fuel, said Scott Harke of Divergent Energy. His company sells machines that grind up and dehydrate food waste on site. Greenville Technical College’s culinary program has installed one machine in its kitchens for recycling food waste, Harke said.

8 | MANUFACTURING |

UBJ

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

Employee Engagement

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10.16.2015

Proterra HQ move ‘unrelated’ to capital availability

Since 2000, Gallup Research has measured employee engagement in the U. S. on an annual basis. Engaged employees are defined as those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work. In 2014, only 31.5% of U.S. workers were engaged in their jobs.

This means that almost 70% of employees were NOT engaged in their work. As a business owner, this number is staggering and upsetting.

If employees are not engaged at work, there are huge potential risks for businesses: the risk of losing clients due to poor customer service; the risk of costly mistakes; the risk of demotivating other employees; LEE YARBOROUGH the risk of high turnover; and the obvious risk of paying for a non-productive employee. It is estimated that disengaged employees cost the U.S. $350 billion each year in lost productivity.

According to Dale Carnegie, companies with engaged employees outperform those without engaged employees by up to 202%.

Employee engagement is more than just happiness; engagement is an emotional commitment to the organizations and its goals. As a business leader, how do you increase employee engagement on your own team?

• Start at the top. Senior leadership must demonstrate the behaviors that are desired for the employees. Employees need to believe in their leaders.

• Transparency. Openness shows trust. Management transparency is critical to employee engagement.

• Manage by Walking Around. Don’t just sit in your office; be on the floor and in the action. Get to know your employees and understand their job. Engage with them and they are more likely to engage.

• Get rid of toxic employees. Every organization has had a toxic employee that zaps morale and hurts production. If you can’t solve the employee issue quickly, then it may be time to detox the environment.

• Use the right employee engagement survey. Ask questions that are relevant and specific. And once you receive the opinions from employees, you must act on the data.

• Promote pride in company. Every employee should add value to the organization. Acknowledge that value and allow them to have pride in their work and their contribution to the larger goal.

Employee engagement is vital to a company’s growth. Having an engaged workforce adds to the bottom line and increases customer loyalty. And as a business leader, that is worth the effort to ENGAGE.

669 N. Academy Street, Greenville, SC 864.679.6055 | 800.446.6567 | www.propelhr.com

ASHLEY BONCIMINO | STAFF

aboncimino@communityjournals.com After five years in Greenville, electric bus maker Proterra is moving is headquarters to Silicon Valley, but the decision had more to do with workforce needs and customers than capital problems in South Carolina, according to a company representative.

“With the presence of Tesla, Apple, Google and the R&D labs of the major automotive manufacturers in Silicon Valley, it is an area Proterra feels it needs a serious presence in to remain at the cutting edge of electric vehicle development,” Proterra Vice President of Sales Matt Horton told the Upstate Business Journal. “The move, however, is unrelated to the availability of investment capital.”

The company’s relocation to Burlingame, Calif., follows Proterra’s announcement earlier this year of plans to build a 160,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in southern California. The facility is expected to double production capacity in three years, and will more efficiently serve west coast customers.

Proterra customers include municipalities in the Southeast – including those in South Carolina – as well as many in California. The company is

also working with King County Metro in Seattle for the possible sale of 200 buses, and announced inking a contract with the Washington State Department of Transportation that could reach up to 800 buses at $480 million.

The Greenville facility with 165 employees will become the company’s East Coast production facility with capacity to build 300 units per year.

The West Coast facility will bring Proterra’s annual capacity to 424 units in three years. The company doesn’t expect to relocate Greenville employees, he said, “but we do have California employees working on projects in Greenville and vice versa.”

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, Proterra represents 75 percent of venture capital activity in the state of South Carolina during the second quarter, raising $30 million in series 4 equity this June. Venture capital in South Carolina topped out at $40 million over two deals for the quarter, compared with $10.7 billion over 496 deals in California for the same period.

“The California location enables Proterra to more efficiently serve its West Coast customers and attract Silicon Valley talent in the Bay Area from the aerospace and manufacturing industries in Southern California,” said Horton.

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FINANCING IN THE STARTUP SPHERE

upstatebusinessjournal.com

ASHLEY BONCIMINO | STAFF aboncimino@communityjournals.com |

@ashleyboncimino

From left: Badazoom’s COO Clark Mickel, senior software developer Warren Savich, junior software developer Jim Niemiec and CTO Eric Newhuis.

Greenville startup Badazoom projects $4M capital round Greenville native Clark Mickel thinks you like finding exactly what you want, when you want it, while shopping online.

South Carolina investors – to the tune of a $4 million projected investment round – seem to agree.

“We couldn’t find a site that serves our needs – or anyone else’s needs, for that matter,” said Mickel, concept cofounder and COO of Badazoom, which he describes as a vendor-neutral consumer electronics site. “It really came out of the frustrations that come from being unable to find exactly what you’re looking for, and then being unsure if you’re looking at the same product across different tabs.”

With many online marketplaces, search results are skewed towards items that need to be cleared from stock or have higher profit margins.

Badazoom, he said, earns a commission on sales from traffic coming from the site to retailers and manufacturers, but says the site logic doesn’t take that revenue into account when delivering search results.

“As far we can tell, we’re the only ones doing unbiased search, and that means we don’t rank our search on anything but pure relevancy,” he said.

“The logic is actually quite different

| FUNDING/CAPITAL | 9

from places like Amazon.”

An initial investment round of $300,000 was enough to pay Badazoom’s four-person team when they began work in January, along with three – soon to be four – contractors, Mickel said. Now, the company is in the middle of its second round of investment, which he expects to come in at $4 million.

“Really, we go a little bit further than other sites do, because we bring in all the big names you’re familiar with as well as all the smaller ones that you may have never heard of,” said the former TipHive employee. “Our ability to represent products from retailers and manufacturers is really unlimited.”

Today, the site’s Web crawlers focus on consumer electronics, which Mickel said the team chose to begin with due to size and growth projections. Ecommerce sales of U.S. consumer electronics was $66.4 billion in 2014, for example, but is expected to double to $108.4 million by 2018, according to digital marketing research firm eMarketer.

“Electronics is a very fragmented space,” said Mickel, who hopes to reach 200,000 registered users (it’s free) by the end of the holiday season. “We’re open to the idea of expansion down the road, but right now we need to focus.”

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10 | FUNDING/CAPITAL |

UBJ

FINANCING IN THE STARTUP SPHERE

ASHLEY BONCIMINO | STAFF

aboncimino@communityjournals.com |

|

10.16.2015

@ashleyboncimino

Zipit Wireless stakes its claim Company has raised a total of $22.78 million since 2007 and holds nine patents If technology is a no-rules gold rush, then patents are how you stake your claim. For Greenville-based Zipit Wireless, that claim is five years in the making – not to mention millions in R&D – and they’re ready to defend it.

“The bulk of our revenue coming into our business is from this technology, ” said Ralph Heredia, Zipit cofounder and vice president of business development. “We’ve invested heavily, millions of dollars, into our technology, and we believe we have the right

to protect that intellectual property.”

Awarded in September, the patent covers Zipit’s bread-and-butter business – critical messaging systems – used by hundreds of their customer organizations across the health care, emergency services, manufacturing and government sectors. In a nutshell, he says, the technology lets users distinguish between critical and not-so-critical messages, and allows remote users to protect sensitive data that may need to be deleted if the device is lost.

“The patent goes into detail about how “We are being aggressive about protecting we prioritize messagour intellectual property, and I think es, how we we rise we have to as a company.” above the noise and Zipit cofounder Ralph Heredi take over your device and force you to respond when necessary,” he said.

The problem, he said, is other companies are beginning to use the same tech-

nology, and if Zipit doesn’t defend it, there’s no guarantee competitors will respect patent law.

“That is part of you owning that patent,” he said. “We haven’t decided what we’re gong to do yet, but I can tell you we’re being aggressive Heredia about protecting our intellectual property, and I think we have to as a company.”

And for Zipit, aggressive is exactly as it sounds.

For example, the company filed a still-pending lawsuit against BlackBerry in late 2013 claiming the technology behemoth infringed on two patents issued to Zipit in 2011.

Not many startups can afford lengthy legal battles against firms with deep pockets, Heredia said. “I’ll tell you it’s very expensive, not only for the patent process but also to defend it.”

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10.16.2015

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FINANCING IN THE STARTUP SPHERE

upstatebusinessjournal.com

ASHLEY BONCIMINO | STAFF aboncimino@communityjournals.com |

| FUNDING/CAPITAL | 11

@ashleyboncimino

Tip Hive to target customer acquisition with angel investments Company gets boost from UCAN, Palmetto Angel Fund

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TipHive got a top up this week from the Greenville-based Upstate Carolina Angel Network and The Palmetto Angel Fund. Investment details from the angel groups were not disclosed.

TipHive Founder and CEO Joost Wentwink said the investment will help advance the product and refine marketing, outreach and user acquisition for new users, as well as with existing and enterprise customer experience and design efforts.

“In our business, we get people from all over the Internet, and it’s incredibly important for the product that we explain very clearly what it does,” he said. “We’re using the funding to release a new version by the end of the year using our learnings from existing users.”

TipHive is a cloud-based software platform that facilitates communication and knowledge sharing via “hives” that store and share information on any topic. The company relocated to Greenville as a startup in The Iron

Yard’s 2013 accelerator, and has since attracted attention from local investors as well as SC Launch.

Wentwink said this investment is a part of the company’s official seed round after a series of angel investments. The company is looking to double the round to help develop a healthy foundation in the Upstate.

“This is a market that is very large, and we are definitely interested in building a very substantial company,” he said. “We’re not looking at it as a lifestyle business.”

Wentwink said TipHive currently has seven enterprise customers across the healthcare, financial services, university and manufacturing industries, and is in the process of onboarding several more.

TipHive employs five people full time in addition to four on contract.

The company works out of the Next on Main offices in downtown Greenville.

12 | SQUARE FEET |

SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF

|

UBJ

REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS THE REGION

sjackson@communityjournals.com |

10.16.2015

@SJackson_CJ

Downtown TR to get new urban homes, townhomes ve

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will be three stories and offer garages and outdoor space. Rosenberg says the design will blend in with the existing environment in an “agri-urban” way.

Prices will begin in the mid-$200,000 range.

Rosenberg said Alston will be ideal for buyers interested in an urban setting with easy access to the amenities of downtown Travelers Rest and the opportunity to bike to work on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

The third project, which will begin once Alston is underway, will offer an additional six townhomes or urban flats, to be located at the corner of Center Street and Love Drive, on an old basketball court near the Travelers Rest Library. Designs may be identical to the Alston project or they may change somewhat based on customer needs, Rosenberg said.

For more information, visit liveintr.com.

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more urban living options with three new residential projects announced.

All three are from Greenville developer David Rosenberg, with Quinn Satterfield as the builder.

The first project, anticipated to begin by the end of this year, will consist of three single-family homes at 305 Old Buncombe Road to be called Henley Row. Each home will have two to three bedrooms and come with garages, yards and amenities such as granite countertops, wood floors and high ceilings.

Prices will start at $249,000.

The second project, named Alston, is set to begin in the second quarter of 2016 and will include 22 new townhomes on a 2 1/2-acre parcel behind the Swamp Rabbit Brewery, with the entrance to the development off Poinsett Highway. Each townhome

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Downtown Travelers Rest is set to get

NOTABLE UPSTATE TRANSACTIONS The former Hansen brickyard in Ninety-Six has been sold. The 238-acre site was purchased by Robert Todd Calhoun, owner of a local fleet truck leasing company. Calhoun bought the property as an investment with plans to redevelop it in the future. Richard Barrett with Colliers International represented the seller, HBP Property Holdings.

In Easley, Pinnacle Environmental Services has purchased the former Carman Ad Image property at 2403 Powdersville Road for its new headquarters site.

The approximately 4,800 square foot building sits atop 0.94 acres and will allow Pinnacle to further expand its environmental engineering business. The property sold for $270,000. Richard Barrett with Colliers International represented the sellers, Robert and Elizabeth Carman.

The 211.27-acre Frey/Morris Estate property at the intersection of Frey’s Drive and Nazareth Church Road in Spartanburg has sold for $1.6 million.

The property is made up of four different tracts and is strategically located within 0.5 miles of the intersection of I-85 and Warren H. Abernathy Highway.

Guy Harris with Spencer Hines represented the sellers.

Sterling CPI has purchased 29 acres in the Tyger River Industrial Park on Moore Duncan Highway (Highway 290) in Spartanburg for its new corporate headquarters and distribution facility.

The company paid $1.2 million for the property previously owned by Pacolet Milliken Enterprises.

Guy Harris with Spencer Hines represented the buyer.

10.16.2015

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REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS THE REGION

upstatebusinessjournal.com

SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF

| SQUARE FEET | 13

sjackson@communityjournals.com |

@SJackson_CJ

Plans tweaked for Court View Townhomes Plans are progressing for Court View Townhomes, a 15-unit townhome development at the corner of Gibbs and Mayfield streets near downtown Greenville. The townhomes will overlook the Kroc Center tennis complex, with possible future views of the proposed 30-acre City Park (also known as Mayberry Park).

Tweaked a little since the initial concept, the design now includes more brick and architectural details such as arches over the balconies Osc

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Aldi launches 2 Upstate stores Aldi, the global discount supermarket chain, will be holding a grand opening celebration on Oct. 29 at two new Upstate locations.

The new Greenville store is at 100 Chalmers Road. The new Greer store is at 1050 W. Wade Hampton Blvd.

UPDATE

DEVELOPER: New City Development & Real Estate ARCHITECT: McMillan Pazdan Smith

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Aldi will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at both stores at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29. The public is invited to attend. Following the ceremony, the first 100 shoppers will receive a golden ticket, each containing Aldi gift certificates of various amounts. Customers can also tour the store, sample Aldi exclusive brand products and enter an on-site sweepstakes for a chance to win a year’s supply of Aldi produce.

“We look forward to introducing Greenville and Greer shoppers to Aldi, where they can find the majority of their average weekly shopping list from our exclusive brand products – including fresh meats, fruits, vegetables and bakery items – for up to 50 percent less,” said Thom Behtz, Jefferson division vice president for Aldi.

that “will provide great curb appeal,” said developer Shawn Thomas with New City Development & Real Estate.

The townhomes will each have three bedrooms and 2.5 baths, two-car garages, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, upgraded finishes and

options for fireplaces and elevators. The units are also individually different in design so none will look the same, Thomas said.

Homes will range from 1,750 to 2,600 square feet and will include covered front porches and upstairs balconies.

Prices begin at $399,000. Five units have already been reserved.

The redesigned plans go before the Greenville Planning Commission at the Oct. 15 meeting. If plans are approved, Thomas hopes to start construction by the end of November.

The new stores feature high ceilings, natural lighting and environmentallyfriendly building materials – such as recycled materials and energy-saving refrigeration and light bulbs.

In addition to the stores’ new look, Aldi will bring shoppers new, healthier options like organic produce, USDA Choice beef and the SimplyNature line of products.

Over the next several years, Aldi plans to add an average of 130 new stores each year.

Michael Kors set for November opening Michael Kors is set to open in early November at its new 2,052-square-foot space on the lower level of Haywood Mall near Williams-Sonoma and across from Victoria’s Secret.

Michael Kors is a designer of luxury accessories and fashion apparel, producing a range of products including accessories, footwear, watches and jewelry, men’s and women’s apparel and a full line of fragrance products.

Store hours will be 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 12:30-6 p.m. Sundays.

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UBJ

WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING

|

10.16.2015

GET READY FOR WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING Fred Rollison Photography

Above: Julia Doherty works as a quality engineer after a degree from Greenville Tech allowed her to follow in her father’s footsteps into a career in manufacturing.

Left: Photos from Sage Automotive Interiors document the new face of manufacturing.

Automotive Women’s Forum, is the driving power between a middle school girls event called Girls Auto Know every year, and a vocal advocate of educational and apprenticeship programs that make the industry more accessible to women in all walks of life.

Take, for example, Julia Doherty, who wanted to be one of two things when she grew up: a vet, or someone who worked with cars.

“I love cars,” said Doherty, whose father’s 20-year career as a BMW engineer had always given her the impression it would be a good field to work in. “When I graduated [high school], I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, and automotive was just what I knew.”

Today, the 24-year-old works as a quality engineer

Photos by Lon Murdick

“Whenever someone is interested in the field, I say go for it, because the opportunities are endless and the manufacturing field is looking for women.”

Julia Doherty, quality engineer

ASHLEY BONCIMINO | STAFF

aboncimino@communityjournals.com It’s hard to believe, but the share of women working in the manufacturing industry is the lowest since October 1971. Today, women make up 27 percent of the country’s manufacturing workforce, compared with nearly 50 percent in the labor force as a whole, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And yet, there seem to be more examples than ever of women succeeding and thriving in manufacturing environments, said Catherine Hayes, executive director of the S.C. Automotive Council and longtime champion of initiatives focusing on women in manufacturing. Hayes volunteers on the Southern

in South Carolina, where a two-year degree from Greenville Technical College lets her “follow in his path.” She is approached frequently by other women interested in how she got her position.

“What I like to do is change the female perspective of it, because they always say it’s a man’s field,” said Doherty, adding that she never felt targeted or singled out, despite being one of the only female students in her college classes. “But whenever someone is interested in the field, I say go for it, because the opportunities are endless and the manufacturing field is looking for women.”

And looking they are, said Paige Reed, CFO of Greenville-based global automotive firm Sage Automotive Interiors. While she said Sage is able to find qualified people, Reed notes a growing industry

“There are people in lower-wage positions who may not be that stimulated or engaged in what they’re doing, and they really don’t know how cool manufacturing is. That’s a huge opportunity for women.”

Catherine Hayes, executive director, S.C. Automotive Council need for skilled workers. Workforce development programs have responded to that need, meaning that opportunities abound.

Reed said she went against the grain when she decided to go into manufacturing instead of public accounting right out of school, but the decision taught her more about running a complex business and supply chain that ultimately led her to her current position.

“You learn a lot when you work in a challenging work environment,” said Reed, who also said she grew up with family in manufacturing.

Part of the lack of women might be a matter of role models, said Nancy Heillemann, director of operations at St. Jude Medical, where they work on medical devices. Heillemann even taught college classes, and was often the only female in the room.

“I think that some women are just intimidated by the idea,” she said. “Other than that, it may be that they don’t think it’s something they can do.”

Hayes said the numbers may get a bump in a few years due to the strength of current efforts to recruit women to the industry.

“As we talk about the shrinking workforce, there’s opportunities there. There are people in lower-wage positions who may not be that stimulated or engaged in what they’re doing, and they really don’t know how cool manufacturing is,” she said. “That’s a huge opportunity for women.”

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16 | COVER |

UBJ

WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING

|

10.16.2015

A league of her own Barbara League looks back at a half-century as a woman in manufacturing—and ahead to the future of her company, the industry and the Upstate

ALLISON WALSH | CONTRIBUTOR

Over the course of its nearly 100-year history, G.F. League Company Inc. has built a reputation for quality so solid that it relies almost solely on word of mouth to continue to grow its business.

Barbara League started as an employee after marrying into the family in the early 1960s, and today she is overseeing the company’s two divisions— League Manufacturing and Quick-Crate—as chairman and CEO. UBJ sat down with League to talk about the path she followed to the helm of G.F. League Company, and her take on the state of women in manufacturing today.

“I have never, ever not worked. I love being a mom, I loved staying home with my children, but I needed more.

I had to work.”

What was your role in the company prior to taking on a leadership role?

When I had our first two sons I didn’t want to

leave them and go back to work, so I started a secretarial service out of our home – this was 1965.

I found myself doing more and more work for G.F. League Company. As our children got older I would come and work here half days while they were in school, and then when they stayed all day I stayed at work all day. So I just weaned into the business from that perspective.

I had no training, because in the ’50s you didn’t have manufacturing engineering technology degrees from colleges for women. I had a business degree from Winthrop. Fortunately Greenville Technical College came online in 1962 and I went and took everything I could take relevant to manufacturing. >>

10.16.2015

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WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING

upstatebusinessjournal.com opened a lot of doors for government contracts, particularly in the aerospace industry.

It’s probably safe to say a lot of the women you went to college with didn’t intend to become career women.

A lot of them went for their MRS degree. That’s what you did. At 12 years old I had a paying job. Our school was right across the street from this real estate agent’s office. After school I would answer his phone while he went out to show properties. Monday through Friday,and he would pay me 50 cents an hour. I have never, ever not worked. I love being a mom, I loved staying home with my children, but I needed more.

I had to work. Fourteen-hour days don’t bother me at all.

The company appears to have a long history of adapting to what’s going on around it.

We like to eat. If we don’t adapt, we don’t stay in business. We started as a lumber brokerage business in 1917. In 1936, my husband’s grandfather died, and his son – my husband’s father – had just graduated from Furman. He and his mother – my husband’s grandmother – decided to take the wood and manufacture component parts for the textile industry, because back then Greenville was the textile center of the world, and we had all these textile mills that needed parts for their machines. I thought that was so innovative that he had that knowledge and that drive. That’s when it became League Manufacturing.

And we have the most incredible team of employees.

We hire people who are smarter than we are and we

WOMEN AT THE TOP A sampling of other Upstate companies shows that Barbara League is not alone as a female manufacturing leader.

• Signs by Design

Taylors President: Debbie Lott Manufacture and installation of signage

• Treblig

Greenville President: Estlean M. Cook CNC precision machining, turning and milling machine shop

Photo by William Crooks

>>

How did you evolve into your current role as chairman and CEO? We had some really bad years when the economy was up and down. In the mid-’80s we had the choice of laying off the production team or laying off the management team, so that was a no-brainer. My husband and I ran the entire operation until the economy recovered, and that catapulted me into a higher role than I had had previously. I just stayed there as we brought employees back on line.

When [my husband] retired in 2007 he gave me all of his stock in the company, which made me majority stockholder, and that enabled us to apply for and receive our WBENC [Women’s Business Enterprise National Council] certification. That has

• JH Global Services/Star EV

Simpsonville CEO: Jane Zhang Electric vehicle manufacturer

• Confluence Outdoor

Greenville CEO: Sue Rechner Manufacturer of kayaks, canoes and related accessories

• ArrowHawk Industries

Laurens Owner: Kim Parrish Powder coating and metal fabrication facility

• Munaco Sealing Solutions Inc.

Greenville President: Brenda DeWachter Sealing solutions and precision components

| COVER | 17

leave them alone and let them do their jobs. And that works. If a customer calls and says he’s got a machine down and he’s in real trouble, and we’ve got production scheduled out for five weeks, we shut it down and we run that customer’s part right through to get him out of trouble, and our employees adapt to that.

“There still exists a stigma about manufacturing that it’s dirty, it’s long hours, it’s heavy labor.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s creative, it’s innovative, it’s immediately tangible.”

Women make up nearly half of the U.S. labor force, but are still vastly under-represented in manufacturing. To what do you attribute this, and what can be done about it?

There still exists a stigma about manufacturing that it’s dirty, it’s long hours, it’s heavy labor. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s creative, it’s innovative, it’s immediately tangible. When you design a part and you take it to the plant and pick out the material and put it on a machine, it goes from the paper to the end product like that. How rewarding is that? A lot of women who are artists are understanding this connection now, and I think we’re going to start seeing a lot more women in manufacturing.

Women in manufacturing need to do their part, too. We had a group of Girl Scouts we brought in to take a tour of the plant two or three months ago. They were just fascinated. Little things like that can plant a seed that can grow and take them in a different direction. If they were bored it did not show.

Does your company make hiring women a priority?

We have had CNC females in the past, but the pickings are just not there. When we need somebody for one of those machines they have to be skilled.

This is getting ready to change, because the Center for Manufacturing Innovation at Greenville Tech is coming online in 2016 and that’s going to take Greenville Tech’s ability to provide us with CNC operators to a whole new level. And we’re going to start seeing more women in manufacturing.

I am so proud of that project because that’s Clemson partnering with Greenville Technical College to close the skills gap and create a pipeline of skilled workers for all the manufacturers in this community.

18 | COVER |

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WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING

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10.16.2015

Chapman Products grows in crowded beauty industry APRIL A. MORRIS | STAFF

amorris@communityjournals.com When Kim Miller walked into William

Family business

Chapman’s salon to get her hair done, little did she know that she would soon be helping him launch his company, beginning with cottage production of his hair care products.

“I made an appointment, but of course I never got my hair done – until after we got married,” she said.

William Chapman’s Grandma’s Secret Potion for damaged or thinning hair launched Chapman Products in 1991, Kim Chapman said. The couple worked to mix ingredients and package the hair potion in an 800-square-foot building located near their Greenville home and salon, she said. “We would go in there and make the product, bottle it, cap it, box it and ship it out,” she said.

When the business started growing, shuttling between the work centers, raising a young family and communicating between them all was awkward, Chapman said, and soon the young company was ready to move.

The couple rented a space, later building a custom-designed production facility and corporate offices on Howard Creek Drive that opened in Fountain Inn in 2004. Along with adjoining land for expansion, the company purchased a neighboring structure that they use as an event space. The office building also includes a training space and area for photo shoots, Chapman said.

While William Chapman works in the lab developing and refining products, Kim Chapman oversees staff and training along with other front-of-house duties. She has also contributed to product development, including a cradle cap remedy and hair serum. Salons across the United States and in Europe and Africa, along with beauty supply stores, use Chapman products and sell them, she said.

“My husband is a stylist, barber and chemist and works with the chemical companies to ensure we have the best ingredients for our products,” she said.

Since its launch, Chapman Products has expanded into a multi-million dollar company.

GROWING WITHIN THEIR MEANS The Chapmans have worked to remain debt free whenever they expanded their business along the way, Kim Chapman said. >>

Clockwise from top: Grandma’s Secret Potion at a trade show, Kim Chapman in the Chapman Products’ Fountain Inn offices, more trade show scenes, and family portrait with William II, William III (Tre), Antonia and Kim.

10.16.2015

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THE FAMILY TREE • Founders: William Chapman II and Kimberly Chapman

• Children: Antonia Chapman Merced and William Chapman III (Tre)

• Next generation: RafiDiyn Merced (son of Antonia and Rafi-Diyn Merced)

• Kim’s parents: Antonia and Charles Miller

CHAPMAN PRODUCTS LINES Relaxers, conditioners, finishing products, color, shampoo, scalp protectors, styling tools and skin care products.

• • • • • •

WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING

upstatebusinessjournal.com

Grandma’s Secret Potion Nairobi, six different product lines Congo Professional Karafena smoothing system WA skin moisture treatment Shoe Rox instant shoe cleaner

• Top seller: Nairobi wrap lotion

FAST FACT Kim Chapman has contributed to product development, including Recovery hair serum, a cradle cap reliever and Comfort Zone base for pre-relaxer treatment.

>> “We don’t have loans,” she said. “We’ve always taken our time to pay for stuff because we feel like if you’re in debt, you’re not really doing business.

We just go one day at a time.”

Watching the bottom line is one of the main reasons the company launched Sheen, a lifestyle

magazine featuring hair, beauty and fashion in 2005, Chapman said. “I started Sheen because of the advertising rates in magazines,” she said. The magazine has evolved from a few pages, newsletter-style, to a glossy publication distributed nationally and internationally.

RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS As Kim Chapman gives a tour of the facility, she stops into the on-site salon to chat with her daughter, Antonia Chapman Merced, 22, and greet her first grandson, RafiDiyn. Kim and William’s children, Antonia and William III (Tre), 24, are also learning the family business with Antonia working as a stylist and Tre as a distributor.

Antonia’s husband, Rafi-Diyn Merced, also works as a stylist. Charles Miller, Kim’s father, has been a part of the business for years and is the company’s longest-employed staff member.

The team now includes approximately 20 staff who work in product production, administration, Sheen magazine production and operating the Chapman Foundation, which donates approximately $100,000 annually in scholarships.

“Our products are geared toward the stylist and the barber, and we wanted to give back to them. We give a lot of scholarships to stylists’ and barbers’ kids who are going to college,” she said.

THE ‘PLEDGE’ As Kim Chapman introduces each staff member, she shares her company culture philosophy: “Your whole journey here is about you… You are brought in because of your expertise, your knowledge and who you are. You have to more or less be ‘pledged.’”

She likens the company to a small town where everyone has to learn its norms and procedures before they can contribute. “I try to give all that information along with being profitable.”

In addition to the staff in Fountain Inn, Sheen has contributors in many locations, as well as some

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staff in Atlanta. Chapman Products has traveling stylist educators who work with salons, Chapman said. The stylist travel board lists destinations such as Greensboro, N.C.; Brooklyn, N.Y. and Slidell, La. “Our networking is very large. We have a lot of people who know and love us,” she said.

While individual staffers may move on, Chapman said it is part of her mission to mentor the company’s employees. “In my world, I’m supposed to service people, do what I’m supposed to do. I think this world is about love and servicing one another.”

$774million sales of hair care products for AfricanAmericans in 2014 Source: Mintel Global Market Research

WHAT’S UP NEXT As for the next steps for the family business, Chapman said she wants “for our products to be No. 1 in the world.” The company is looking at expanding the manufacturing facility and Sheen magazine’s reach, she said.

Whatever comes, the company’s mission of service must remain central, Chapman said. “In business, people will try you to see if they can make you move, and we have stayed focused. We’ve stayed the way we are supposed to stay.”

Chapman Products will continue to reflect the Chapmans’ vision, she said. “In order for us to have longevity, we [must] continue to do what we are supposed to do – that we are always servicing people and not becoming a bigger conglomerate just to have money to show that I have money.”

BUILDING THE BUSINESS

1980 1991 1996 2004 2006 2005 2009 2015 William Chapman creates Grandma’s Secret Potion

Chapman Products launched

Nairobi product line launched

Chapman Foundation founded to supply scholarships

Sheen magazine began publication

Moved into custom-built production facility in Fountain Inn

Kerafena line launched

Akura skincare line in development

Photos by Jim Pitt Harris

20 | INNOVATE |

UBJ

MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUP TORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE

|

10.16.2015

The customer’s voice Time to stop innovating for the consumers – and start innovating with them

By BLAINE CHILDRESS U.S. Patent Agent and Open Innovation manager, Sealed Air Corporation

Most have heard that “Voice of the Customer” is an important aspect of innovating for value.

However, VOC is often equated with sending a marketing person out to meet with customers to report to R&D what is wanted. Or perhaps it may mean conducting surveys in hopes of discerning relative importance among design candidates.

But at a recent product development conference, I heard from several innovation directors who felt prior attempts at gathering customer “voice” were insufficient. Kimberly-Clark Corporation argued that one must move beyond innovating for the customer, and instead innovate with the customer.

K-C’s Huggies division has seen great successes with their MomInspired co-creation program. K-C provides $15,000 grants to eight parent entrepreneurs who present intriguing new product concepts, but lack the resources to establish real business scale.

One mom presented her new sippy cup design.

She told the grant panel that toddlers struggled to get the last liquid from the cup. She installed a wedge inside to allow complete emptying without the child needing to point the cup toward the ceiling. K-C not only funded the grant, but helped her patent the Tilty cup idea, and then in-licensed it as a brand extension. This crowdsourcing style of investment in the consumer community has helped expand the Huggies brand beyond diapers and wipes, and enhanced sales of current offerings though its positive brand experience.

A second example of the importance of in-depth customer understanding comes from Peterbilt Motors.

With significant sales decline, Peterbilt embarked on a journey to excellence fueled by gathering personal customer understanding. Engineers and marketing managers were deployed to actually live for one-week assignments at major truck stops. They observed and interviewed drivers conducting business and life. They also assigned engineers and designers to travel with the drivers to experience the cab, understand the challenges and discuss desires for improvement. They then innovated around what the customer does, instead of what had been imagined from the confines of a conference room.

Having lived the customer experience, they engineered world-class chassis and engine platforms, and then focused on ride comfort, quiet and sleeper features. Different-sized sleeper modules are equipped for ready connection to the cab platform, right down to the surround sound. Peterbilt configurability allows a customer to log on to their web site and stylize a sleeper with the amenities of a home den. The process of personal design is similar to selecting cabinet modules at IKEA. Peterbilt de-

First identify the customer needs by living the customer experience, and then decide how to provide the desired innovation. scribes the result as local tailoring. They build brand loyalty, focus on platform, and protect the designs with patents.

At the other end of the size and price scale is India’s Tata Motors. Tata set out to produce a $2,500 car, called the Nano, which would appeal to customers who could presently afford motorbikes. Unlike the previous fiascoes by Ford resulting from introducing a stripped-down Western vehicle, Tata focused heavily on the Indian market and culture to design a car from the ground up. They partnered with Cummins to rethink the powertrain. They relied on modularity in order to address the very wide range of the existing customer base. Modularity permitted the company to enter the market at the low-priced end, but later add components as customers want to upgrade; or place those directly in the car if desired when ordered.

They went one step further in their innovative consumer thinking: Tata actually trained distributor installers in isolated rural regions. These third-party partners permitted customers to tailor products across a highly variable economic environment, while building Tata brand and community loyalty. The close relationship with rural installers permitted Tata and Cummins to collect deep, even personal, customer insights by utilizing a broad independent distributor network.

While the no-AC, manual transmission, lightweight cars were designed to reach the distant poor, the configurability of modules and the personal

Top to bottom: Peterbilt Motors’ reinvented cab; Tata Motors’ Nano car; Huggies’ Tilty Cup

contact method has been applied to urban settings as well. Instead of erecting fancy showrooms, and dealer service, the use of third-party partners to connect with the customer and install boxed components has permitted Tata and Cummins to win locally in an ever-growing customer base.

Scientists and engineers are keen to fill whiteboards with enticing ideas during brainstorming sessions. But no matter what products are being envisioned, trying to convince consumers to adopt your ingenious innovation is not sustainable. Instead, first identify the customer needs by living the customer experience, and then decide how to provide the desired innovation. Better yet, innovate in the customer setting or partner with the customer.

South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership Proven Business Consulting and training

Upcoming Courses Available in the Greenville Area

Quality Management Systems ISO 9001/ISO14001 Lead Auditor Combo Course October 19 – October 22

Real World Teaching for Real World Applications SCMEP offers a wide selection of pertinent business courses and seminars at South Carolina’s top training facilities.

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37 Villa Road, Suite 500 Greenville SC 29615 (864) 288-5687

ISO 9001:2015 Review October 23 TS 16949 Lead Auditor Training November 16 – November 20

Safety/Environmental/Energy ISO 14001:2015 Review October 23

Technical Skills Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerance Workshop October 28 – November 5

Lean/Six Sigma Lean Alliance Annual Event: Visual Management and Leader Standard Work November 10 For more information about any of our courses or to register, visit our website at www.scmep.org These courses are available on-site at your facility. Contact us to learn more.

WHAT’S YOUR BACKUP PLAN? How much would eight hours of downtime cost your business?

Losing power for even a few hours can mean thousands of dollars lost in revenue.

Generac revolutionized the commercial generator market with the first standby generators powerful enough to back your entire business without the cost of expensive configured systems.

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“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

POWER SOLUTIONS CASE STUDY of

Stevens Aviation

The Upstate of South Carolina is a beautiful area home to many businesses. It is also home to severe thunderstorms in the summer and ice storms in the winter. As the weather warms up, as memories of recent winter storms melt away, it’s tempting Scott Kelly to forget the President Carolina cold, hard Heating Service dread that the lights Serving Greenville since 1981 might go out. Most of the Upstate felt the effects of no power due to ice and wind. But the potential for storm related power outages is a year-round sleeping trigger. While you cannot prevent power outages, you can prepare for them. As a business owner I know just how important having power is to stay profitable and keep that competitive edge, so do the folks at Stevens Aviation here in the Upstate. The loss of power would cripple their ability to return an aircraft to service and keep customers happy. Having a backup system in place allows for all of their locations to access critical systems and continue business as normal. Virtually every function of their business is dependent in some way on a power source. In a competitive world, assuring their clients continued convenient service provides an advantage over many of their competitors who would be at the mercy of their local power grid. Any loss of power takes them out of communication with their clients and their employees. As the weather becomes more unpredictable, Stevens Aviation decided it was time for peace of mind and called Carolina Generators to install a 45KW Generac Generator on location.

Power your peace of mind by installing an emergency generator.

Contact Carolina Generators today.

STAY OPEN FOR BUSINESS. HAVE A BACKUP PLAN FOR POWER! Contact us today to schedule our Power Pro Professional for your FREE onsite assessment.

Greenville: 864-232-5684

Seneca: 864-638-6635

Anderson: 864-281-1977

www.CarolinaCommercialGenerators.com

10.16.2015

|

upstatebusinessjournal.com

STRATEGIES FOR HONING YOUR PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Hiring temps? Know the benefits, understand the risk Most temporary workers should be treated as employees, not independent contractors, says the Department of Labor

By ANDY SATTERFIELD and SANDI WILSON Jackson Lewis P.C.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, temporary workers make up 19 percent of all new jobs in the U.S., and staffing agencies employ an average of 3 million workers daily across all industries. In South Carolina, the average number of temporary workers used each week reached approximately 65,000 in 2014.

Companies turn to staffing agencies for a variety of reasons. Most commonly, staffing agencies are used to alleviate staffing shortages, recruit qualified candidates, reduce costs and increase flexibility.

For purposes of employment and labor laws, these workers may be treated as your employees, despite the fact they are paid by the staffing agency.

The risk is significant. Various laws may provide coverage for your temporary workers, even if you have assumed that they are not your employees, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which governs minimum wage and overtime pay; the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which governs union organizing; and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibit sex, race, and other forms of discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

In a memorandum issued on July 15, 2015, the Department of Labor

announced its view that most temporary workers are improperly classified as independent contractors and should be treated instead as employees. Similarly, recent decisions have made it more difficult to argue that temporary workers are not employees – regardless of whether the worker is labeled an independent contractor or supplied by a staffing company.

In August, the NLRB announced a broad rule for employee status under the NLRA (Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc., 362 NLRB No. 186, Aug. 27, 2015). In Browning, the NLRB held that temporary workers are “employees” if the company “indirectly” affects employees’ terms and conditions of employment. Therefore, this decision will make many temporary workers “employees” for purposes of the NLRA. Similarly, in Butler v. Drive Automotive Industries of America Inc., the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which encompasses South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland) created a new test, holding that both the client company and the staffing agency were the worker’s employers for purposes of Title VII. The court considered the following factors in determining that the staffing agency employee was

HELP

WANTED

2014 SC STAFFING STATS

64,944 Average number of temporary workers each week

298,094 Annual staffing employment

$31,251 Average annual earnings per job

$2.6 billion 2013 total annual sales Source: American Staffing Association

employed by both the staffing agency and the staffing agency’s client: • Authority to hire and fire • Day-to-day supervision, including authority to discipline • The furnishing of equipment and a workplace • Possession and responsibility for employment records • Provision of training • Exclusivity of assignment to the company • Assignment of duties the same or similar to those assigned to regular employees • Duration of assignment • Intent to enter into an employment relationship In short, the clear legal trend is to find that workers historically classified as independent contractors or viewed as non-employee temporary workers, are in fact employees. Companies that use independent contractors and temporary workers should review their staffing agreements and contingent workforce relationships to assess whether potential legal risks are adequately addressed for purposes of ensuring that both the company and its staffing agencies are in legal compliance with the FLSA, the NLRA, Title VII and other state and federal laws impacting the employment relationship.

| PROFESSIONAL | 23

JOIN US

Charlotte

REAL ESTATE

& DEVELOPMENT

TOUR

Starting at Greenville City Hall, members of the ULI community will travel to Charlotte to learn more about the urban evolution that has positioned Charlotte as the new southern city.

The ambitious tour will explore Uptown, the South End, the Metropolitan, South park and Ballantyne. We will hear from those who shaped Charlotte into a first tier destination city in the South and learn more about best practices and new ideas for Greenville.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21, 2015 6:45AM - 7:30PM W H AT T O K N O W • Bus departs Greenville City Hall at 7:00AM • Registration includes transportation, lunch, a snack and networking reception • This tour is open to Members, $65.00 and NonMembers, $95.00 Thanks to our Programming Committee

Blaine Hart, CBRE | Mary Douglas Hirsch, the City of Greenville | Ryan Johnston, Upstate Business Journal

| Ryan Peiffer, Hughes Investments

For more information and and to toregister register please click here. southcarolina.uli.org/events

10.16.2015

|

THE TECHNICAL SIDE OF BUSINESS

upstatebusinessjournal.com

| DIGITAL MAVEN | 25

Time for Plan B Have your backups in place before disaster strikes

By LAURA HAIGHT president, portfoliosc.com

Despite our best efforts, things just don’t always run perfectly. Sometimes, the failures are outside of our control; others, sadly, can be slapped squarely on our shoulders.

However you got there, how you tackle the problem often depends on whether you are a linear or operational thinker.

While linear thinkers have to figure out how to fix the problem so everything works as it was supposed to, operational thinkers focus on how to get past the problem and reach the goal.

Medical researchers = Linear thinkers. Emergency room docs = Operational thinkers.

Coming out of the newspaper industry, I learned early on the criticality of operational thinking.

Bottom line: You never know what will happen; you’d better always have a backup. The type of backup you need – a person, a system, a larger plan – will depend on the situation, but there are some planning keys to make sure your backup will be effective when you need it.

Don’t make assumptions. We are quick to do this, especially with mobile technology. “Naturally, I will be able to reach Bob on the weekend if there’s an emergency.” “Of course, we’ve got home phone numbers for all the directors and department heads.”

If there are people you might need in an emergency, make sure you have multiple ways to reach them via landlines at their homes or weekend retreats.

Cellphones are a tremendous convenience, but they can be inconsistent – especially during situations when networks are flooded with calls. You’ll need a backup to that backup – and refresh the information each year. People move, you know.

Ensure key data is accessible. Often a trusted department head is the keeper of his department’s external contacts. If you need to talk to Duke Power, you don’t go rummaging around for their number.

You call Marsha because she manages the vendor relationship. That works great, until Marsha is in Aruba when the hurricane hits. Make sure key contacts, internal and external (on certain days, the most important person on your team might be the payroll clerk), are accessible to everyone on the management team and everyone knows how to access them – from home, if necessary.

If you need wireless, invest in portable Mi-Fi. You probably won’t need it, but it’s better than spending 20 minutes while the client’s IT department sets you up with a guest account or tries to find an ethernet drop in the ceiling for you. Planning on doing a live connection to your presentation? Make sure you have something on a USB that you can run in case the external server is inaccessible.

As a last resort, bring hard copy printouts to hand out or deliver from. No one has to know you have them unless you need them, but it is better to keep going and keep talking to your audience and giving them information than to stop, be flustered, try to fix it, apologize and delay.

Trust but verify. “We have a process for that.”

Written processes and procedures are a great first step. But a process isn’t an action, it’s a plan to take Bottom line: You never know what an action. Make sure the will happen; you’d better always have processes are being fol- a backup. lowed and successfully Try to break things. We are completed. We’ve come to hard-wired to want to see rely on technology to automate procedures, but a things work. But the way to know what our vulneramajor component of that process needs to be verifibilities are is to attempt to break things, to imagine cation and confirmation. Yes, that’s often manual. what would happen IF … As soon as we say “that would But it’s worth it to make sure what you think is never happen,” that’s when the unthinkable occurs. working, it really is. (Trust me, there’s nothing worse If you’re thinking this all sounds a lot like disaster than finding out you have offsite containers full of planning, you are spot on. Hopefully, the biggest successfully completed, but blank, backups!). disaster you’ll ever face will be a presentation that Take stronger precautions when things are outside your control. Most of us have had the experience of going to give a talk or a demo, painstakingly preparing our presentation, only to have some problem arise that interrupts or trashes your show. If you are a technology provider, I know you know what I mean. As a purchaser of large systems for 25 years, I’ve never seen a clean, totally working system demo outside of a firm’s headquarters.

doesn’t run or the power going out during a key deadline. But two weeks ago, South Carolina took a big hit from Hurricane Joaquin. Those of us lucky enough to be breathing a sigh of relief should also be asking, “What would have happened IF…” Need help building your plan? Laura Haight is the president of Portfolio, a communications company that helps small business make the most of the fusion of emerging technology and communication.

THE EASIEST WAY TO TRAVEL. For over 50 years, GSP International Airport has helped our local economy take flight. With convenient parking, shorter lines and more direct flights to the places you need to be, your choice in travel is close to home.

THINK GSP FIRST. GSPairport.com

26 | ON THE MOVE |

PLAY-BY-PLAY OF UPSTATE CAREERS

AWARDED

RANKED

UBJ

HIRED

APPOINTED

|

10.16.2015

HIRED

Scott T. Dishman

Pamela Evette

Travis Babb

Steve Foushee

Patrick Griswold

Selected to receive the 2015 James F. Barker Ethics in Action Award by Clemson University’s Rutland Institute for Ethics. Dishman serves as director of community engagement for The Family Effect. He was selected for his work to improve the lives of neglected and abused children in the area.

Ranked third among the Top 50 Women Entrepreneurs in America (Impact 50) by Inc. Magazine. Evette is president and CEO of Quality Business Solutions Inc. The Impact 50 are the leaders of the 50 fastest-growing women-run businesses among the Inc. 5000 rankings of revenue growth.

Named development director of Greer Community Ministries. Babb has over 25 years of experience as a financial consultant with a national firm and most recently served at Benore Logistic Systems Inc. His primary role will be to expand the nonprofit’s presence in the community while growing the donor base of support.

Named head of Carolinas operations at Moss & Associates. Foushee has more than 10 years of project management experience in the Carolinas and Georgia. He previously served as a senior project manager for the company for more than five years. He is a LEED accredited professional in building design and construction.

Named a senior project manager by Moss & Associates. Griswold has nearly 30 years of designbuild and construction management experience. He has led major projects for large clients throughout the Southeast, including industrial/manufacturing, commercial and multiresidential projects.

COMMUNITY The Junior League of Greenville named the following women to the 2015-2016 board of directors: Rebecca Feldman, president; Sandy Brown,

president-elect; Heather Cox, communications vice president; Elizabeth Gunter, community vice president; Sara Fox, finance vice president; Heather Scalzo, fund development vice president; Amy Rogers, mem-

bership vice president; Katie Walker, corresponding secretary; Clay Gilbert, recording secretary; Amy Hunt, strategic planner; Lee O’Shields, parliamentarian; Kimberly Cooley, sustainer representative.

The Spartanburg Area Chamber’s Leadership Spartanburg program accepted the following participants into its 2015-2016 class: Claudia Albergotti, Johnson Development; Laura Allen, SCANPO; Debbie >>

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10.16.2015

|

upstatebusinessjournal.com

>> Apoldo, Episcopal Church of the Advent; Bob Atkins, Founders Federal Credit Union; Karen Bjelland, TD Bank; Ben Boland, S&ME Inc.; Kathryn Boucher, Music Foundation of Spartanburg; Rachel Brough, Cate Law Firm; Kevin Brown, Spartanburg Water; Eduardo Chen, Spartanburg Community College; Brooke Coleman, Spartanburg Housing Authority, Cheryl Cox, Spartanburg Community College; Shea Dent, Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce; Stacey Dulin, Spartanburg Regional Foundation; Donna Evans, White Oak Estates; Jennifer Faner, Charles Lea Center; Kara Ferguson, USC Upstate; Amy Goulding Goodwin, Junior League of Spartanburg; Lindsey Graham, Converse College; Quincy Halliday, McAbee, Schwartz, Halliday & Co.; Rosalyn Henderson, Cheeks & Henderson LLC; Missy House, U.S. Congressman Trey Gowdy’s Office; Martin Huff, Johnson Development; Kelly Kozlowski, Pure Barre Spartanburg; Elizabeth Martin, Westgate Family Therapy Institute; Derrick Norris, Comfort Suites at Westgate Mall; Tamika Oden, Boys & Girls Club of the Upstate; Jason Paddock, Spartanburg School District 2; Adam Padgett, Lyons Industrial Properties; Lesa Phillips, The Arbor Co,/Eden Terrace Assisted Living; Joe Pinilla, The Forrester Center for Behavioral Health; Angie Price, Spartanburg Water; Jill Rodgers, McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture; Lianna Saad, Mid South Management Co. Inc.; Kyle Settle, Fluor Enterprises; Kristyn Smith Hawkins, Spartanburg Convention & Visitors Bureau; Justin “Hootie” Solesbee, Harper Corporation; Jennifer Stanger, United Way of the Piedmont; Angie Stroupe, AFL; David Sundermann, Spartanburg Marriott; Josh Thompson, Holcombe Bomar, PA; Jeff Tillerson, City of Spartanburg.

Upcountry History Museum – Furman University hired Tom McGrath as director of development.

For the past three years, McGrath was a campaign fundraiser and simultaneously managed fundraising for multiple bond referendums, local, state and federal campaigns ranging from $50$775,000. In addition, he was responsible for organizing fundraising events, as well as identifying and recruiting new donors to ensure growth.

THE FRESHEST FACES ON THE BUSINESS LANDSCAPE

DEVELOPMENT The Harper Corporation named Bryan Royal and Matt Johnson as shareholders. Royal joined the company in 2004 as a project manager and later became the Division Manager of the Environmental Systems Division.

Johnson joined the company in 2007.

Currently serving as the division manager for commercial business, he has overseen significant projects in his tenure that include the Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School for Greenville County, the Greenville Children’s Museum and the Erwin Penland 360 Office Building currently under construction in downtown Greenville.

FINANCE South State Bank named Leo A. Smith as branch manager for its Powdersville office and Scott Dunn as vice president in commercial lending for its 1800 East Main St., Easley, office. Smith has over 34 years of experience in the banking industry. Dunn has over 28 years of experience in the banking industry.

FINE ARTS Allison Fields joined Centre Stage as marketing and development director. Fields previously served as public relations and promotions manager for Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Her responsibilities will include the development of marketing strategies for each production, working with our sponsors to garner great relationships and repeat business and making new relationships with new prospective sponsors.

| NEW TO THE STREET | 27

Open for business 1

1. GroupHab Physical Therapy recently opened at 845 NE Main St., Simpsonville. The organization combines physical therapy concepts, theories and principles into group exercise classes. For more information and a class schedule, visit grouphab.com.

2. Sportsclub p.r.e.p. Program recently opened at 667 SE Main St., Simpsonville.

The program is a medical fitness initiative to help physicians better counsel patients. For more information, visit sportsclubsc.com.

2

3

IT EDTS hired Tony Arena as an IT network engineer and Stan Evans as a sales support specialist. Arena previously served at Netbase Technologies, where he was a network engineer for a wide range of business organizations. Evans has 10 years of professional experience in sales and support in the IT space, previously managing support and logistics for a national IT service organization.

NONPROFIT Women Who Code named Pamela Wood Browne as director for the group’s Greenville network. Browne specializes in communication support and content management systems. She has also been involved in several nonprofit endeavors including Bike Walk Greenville and the UUCLB.

CONTRIBUTE: New hires, promotions & award winners may be featured in On the Move. Send information and photos to onthemove@upstatebusinessjournal.com.

3. Villas at Carriage Hills recently opened at 198 Barker Road, Simpsonville. For more information, call 844-280-0522 or visit bit.ly/villas-at-carriage-hills.

4. Bex Café and Juice Bar, located at 820 S. Main St., Greenville, held its grand opening on Oct. 13. The new café and coffee shop specializes in lattes, juices and smoothies in addition to serving breakfast and lunch sandwiches, salads and bakery items. For more information, visit facebook.com/BexCafeaJuiceBar.

CONTRIBUTE: Know of a business opening soon?

Email information to bjeffers@communityjournals.com.

28 | FINE PRINT |

BUSINESS BRIEFS YOU CAN’ T MISS

25 Fastest Companies awards luncheon next week

The SC 25 Fastest Growing Awards luncheon will be in Columbia on Oct. 20. The event will be at the Columbia Marriott, 1200 Hampton St., 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

The keynote speaker is Manfred Erlacher, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing.

A portion of ticket sales will go to the Central Carolina Community Foundation’s S.C. Flood Relief Fund to help flood victims.

To purchase tickets or for more information, visit 2015scfastestgrowingtickets.eventbrite.com or call 864-335-5080.

Upstate award nominees to be honored at the luncheon include: Creative Builders Inc., Duke Sandwich Productions Inc., EDTS LLC, Encore Container, Green Cloud Technologies, Facility Solutions, Lima One Capital, M33 Integrated, Ob Hospitalist Group Inc., PPS International Limited, The Harper Corporation - General Contractors, The Mass Media Group and Website Pipeline Inc.

UBJ

|

10.16.2015

Evaluation standards include proficiency in the following areas: center leadership, clinical management, research, community outreach, professional education and quality improvement.

Michelin tournament in Greenville raises record amount for charity

Michelin North America raised a record $682,000 from its 26th annual charity golf tournament in the Greenville.

The annual golf tournament in Greenville has become the company’s most successful one-day philanthropic fundraising event, according to a release.

Since 1989, Michelin’s suppliers have contributed nearly $4 million. Money collected from this year’s event will go to eight charities serving South Carolina and other communities where the company has manufacturing operations.

Leesa Owens, director of community relations for Michelin North America, said in a release, “The organizations that will benefit from this generosity have a meaningful and important impact on their local communities. Many lives will be touched by these contributions from our valued suppliers.”

The eight charities from this year’s list of beneficiaries include: Homes of Hope, The Center for Community Services, Military Child Education, PRIDE, National Organizations for Youth Safety, Palmetto Conservation Foundation, Safe Harbor and The Walker Foundation.

Fluor awarded contract by petroleum company in Kuwait Bausch + Lomb celebrates 4 billionth bottle Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. on Tuesday celebrated the production of the four billionth bottle of eye care products manufactured at Bausch + Lomb’s Greenville Solutions Plant.

The facility has been in the Greater Greenville area for more than 30 years.

The Greenville Solutions Plant employs more than 500 employees who help to manufacture more than 30 medical products, which are distributed to a nearby shipping facility to be packaged and transported around the world.

The top global Valeant brands manufactured at the Greenville facility include Biotrue multi-purpose solution, ReNu contact lens solutions and Boston solutions for gas-permeable contact lenses.

GHS breast health program gets accreditation

The breast health program at Greenville Health System was granted a three-year/full accreditation designation from the National Accreditation for Breast Centers (NAPBC), a program administered by the American College of Surgeons. This is the third time GHS has received this designation. GHS was the first program in the Upstate to receive it in 2009.

“NAPBC accreditation is the gold standard in patient care, and it is a symbol of our commitment to providing high-quality care to not only breast cancer patients but to those with benign disease as well,” Dr. Wendy Cornett, medical director of GHS’ breast health program, said in a release. “This accreditation also represents an opportunity for us to learn from others and share our best practices in survivorship and multidisciplinary care.”

Accreditation by the NAPBC is given to centers that have voluntarily committed to provide quality breast care and that undergo an evaluation process and review of their performance.

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) selected Fluor Corporation as the preferred bidder for two engineering, procurement and construction packages.

Facilities in the two packages will include a variety of key process units, utilities and infrastructure for the new Al-Zour oil refinery project in Kuwait that is expected to produce 615,000 barrels per day.

Fluor booked its $2.6 billion portion of the contract in the third quarter of 2015.

Fluor is leading the joint venture, known as FDH JV, which consists of Fluor, Daewoo Engineering and Construction and Hyundai Heavy Industries.

The Al-Zour refinery complex will be built on a greenfield site located south of Kuwait City. When completed, the new complex is expected to be one of the largest refineries in the world.

Reynolds Company acquires Progressive Adhesives

The Reynolds Company, an adhesives and coatings manufacturer based in Greenville, has made its second acquisition in 12 months with its recent acquisition of the assets of Progressive Adhesives in Memphis, Tenn.

Progressive serves multiple markets in the U.S., primarily focusing on packaging applications, according to a release from The Reynolds Company. Reynolds plans to close the Memphis operation and merge it into the Greenville plant “due to the tremendous capacity of our Greenville operation,” said Lex Reynolds, president of The Reynolds Company. “Several key employees will join the Reynolds Company, and eventually Reynolds will hire a few more workers in the Greenville plant.”

In September 2014, Reynolds purchased Chief Adhesives in Fort Worth, Texas, a custom manufacturer of adhesives serving the Southwest and Western U.S. “Chief will continue to operate as it always has while reporting to the Greenville operation,” Reynolds said. Plans could include a plant expansion for Chief Adhesives, he said.

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30 | #TRENDING |

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

UBJ

OVERHEARD @ THE WATERCOOLER

> Vester Thacker Jr. “Our property value is going up! This peninsula is between Fair Play Creek and the Tugaloo River. Drive down Highway 11 and cross I-85 to a dead end today and to Sanctuary Pointe in the future. This is just the first phase of development.”

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

| VOL. 4 ISSUE 39

CRATE

expectations Greer’s After two years, has its to Inland Port lived up 2 initial projections? - pg.

DIGITAL FLIPBOOK ARCHIVE >> The layout of print meets the convenience of the web: flip through the digital edition of any of our print issues at >> upstatebusinessjournal. com/past-issues

> Lisa Harvey Schreurs “The area looks absolutely beautiful.”

>> WEIGH IN @ THE UBJ EXCHANGE

> Hobie Miller “This would be awesome!!!”

Got something to offer?

Get it off your chest.

> Angela Laney, Realtor “Upstate keeps getting more attractive!

Love it!”

We’re looking for expert guest bloggers from all industries to contribute to the UBJ Exchange. Send posts or blog ideas to eprice@communityjournals.com.

> Barbara A. Tooley “Will it ever really happen? This has been talked about for years and we’ve seen nothing get started.”

> Kathy Lotz Churchill upstatebusinessjournal.com “I have been waiting for the start of this great idea. I’m on board!”

> Bill Gilder “WOW! Looks cool.”

RE: CAROLINA ALLIANCE, PINNACLE BANK COMPLETE MERGER

> The Main Street Program, Anderson, SC “Cool! Just a few miles away.” > Upstate Property Shop “#sanctuarypointe #lakehartwell #outdoorenthusiasts Very Cool!” > Ryan Johnston “Check out this massive plan for a US Whitewater Center type development on Lake Hartwell.”

10.16.2015

BIZ BUZZ

Distilled commentary from UBJ readers

RE: SANCTUARY POINTE PROJECT AT LAKE HARTWELL HOPES TO ATTRACT OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS

|

> Dan Hamilton “Excited about this great combination!”

RE: GHS GOVERNANCE > @amorris_CJ “GHS CEO Riordan said system had support of legislative delegation in past and need again going forward.” > @amorris_CJ

>> CONNECT WITH US We’re great at networking.

The top 5 stories from last week’s issue ranked by shareability score

>> 1,923

1. Sanctuary Pointe project at Lake Hartwell hopes to attract outdoor enthusiasts

>> 142

2. Nissan Renault Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn describes the future of the auto industry

>> 102 3. The Cliffs completes $525k golf course restorations

>> 69 4. Upstate banking more crowded than ever

>> 69 5. Wagner Wealth Management moving HQ to Verdae

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“Full house for Gville legislative delegation meeting re: GHS governance.”

UPSTATEBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM

10.16.2015

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DATE Tuesday

10/20 Wednesday

10/23 Wednesday

10/28

| PLANNER | 31

EVENT INFO

WHERE DO I GO?

HOW DO I GO?

The Economic Benefits of Conservation and Open Space Speaker: Jessica Sargent, Trust for Public Land

USC Upstate University Readiness Center 800 University Way, Spartanburg 3-5 p.m.

Cost: $10 Register: bit.ly/tat-october2015

Manufacturing Leadership Forum: Operational Excellence Kickoff Meeting Bringing together like-minded individuals in support of manufacturing and distribution

Commerce Club 55 Beattie Place, Greenville 7:15 a.m.

Register: 864-232-5600

Tech after Five Networking for tech entrepreneurs

Pour Lounge 221 N. Main St., Greenville 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Register: bit.ly/taf-oct2015

SBDC Workshop Topic: Are You Building a Business that Could Be Sold?

Clemson at ONE 1 N. Main St., Greenville 9 a.m.-noon

Cost: $29 Register: piedmontscore.org/workshops/ register/200

Downtown Greenville’s Expected Growth Update Discuss what is new and planned in the commercial and residential markets Speaker: Brad Halter, Caine Company chairman

Commerce Club 55 Beattie Place, Greenville 5:30 p.m.

Register: 864-232-5600

10/21 Friday

INSIDE THE UPSTATE’S NETWORKING AND SOCIAL SCENE

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OCT. 30: QUARTERLY CRE ISSUE The state of commercial real estate in the Upstate.

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Guest columns run 700-800 words.

Contact Executive Editor Susan Clary Simmons at ssimmons@communityjournals.com to submit an article for consideration.

Nicole Greer, Kristi Jennings, Donna Johnston, Annie Langston, Lindsay Oehman, Emily Yepes

DIRECTOR OF EVENTS & ACCOUNT STRATEGY Kate Madden

1997 Jackson Dawson launches motorsports Division 1993

1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont office Center on Villa.

>>

with a majority of them utilizing the general aviation airport as a “corporate gateway to the city.”

In 1997, Jackson and his son, Darrell, launched Jackson Motorsports Group. The new division was designed to sell race tires and go to racetracks to sell and mount the tires. Darrell Jackson now serves as president of the motorsports group and Larry Jackson has two other children and a son-in-law who work there. Jackson said all his children started at the bottom and “earned their way up.”

Jackson kept the Jackson-Dawson branches in Detroit and others in Los Angeles and New York until he sold his portion of that partnership in 2009 as part of his estate planning.

The company now operates a small office in Charlotte, but its main headquarters are in Greenville in a large office space off Woodruff Road, complete with a vision gallery that displays local artwork and an auditorium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motorsports Group is housed in an additional 26,000 square feet building just down the street, and the agency is currently looking for another 20,000 square feet.

Jackson said JMG has expanded into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufacturing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s

Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff

Jackson Marketing Group celebrates 25 years By sherry Jackson | staff | sjackson@communityjournals.com

Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and according to owner Larry Jackson, form the motivation that has kept the firm thriving for the past 25 years.

Jackson graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in video and film production and started his 41-year career in the communications industry with the U.S. Army’s Public Information Office. He served during

Vietnam, where he said he was “luckily” stationed in the middle of Texas at Fort Hood.

He left the service and went to work in public affairs and motorsports at Ford Motor Company in Detroit.

After a stint at Bell and Howell, where he was responsible for managing Ford’s dealer marketing and training, the entrepreneurial bug hit and he co-founded Jackson-Dawson Marketing Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto industry in 1980.

In 1987, Jackson wanted to move back south and thought Greenville would be a good fit. An avid pilot, he

learned of an opportunity to purchase Cornerstone Aviation, a fixed base operation (FBO) that served as a service station for the Greenville Downtown Airport, providing fuel, maintenance and storage.

In fact, when he started the Greenville office of what is now Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) in 1988, the offices were housed on the second floor in an airport hangar.

“Clients would get distracted by the airplanes in the hangars and we’d have to corral them to get back upstairs to the meeting,” Jackson said.

Jackson sold the FBO in 1993, but says it was a great way to get to know Greenville’s fathers and leaders

>>

2003 motorsports Division acquires an additional 26,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space

1998 1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court

also one of the few marketing companies in South Carolina to handle all aspects of a project in-house, with four suites handling video production, copywriting, media and research and web design.

Clients include heavyweights such as BMW, Bob Jones University, the Peace Center, Michelin and Sage Automotive. Recent projects have included an interactive mobile application for Milliken’s arboretum and 600-acre Spartanburg campus and a marketing campaign for the 2013 Big League World Series.

“In my opinion, our greatest single achievement is the longevity of our client relationships,” said Darrell Jackson. “Our first client from back in 1988 is still a client today. I can count on one hand the number of clients who have gone elsewhere in the past decade.”

Larry Jackson says his Christian faith and belief in service to others, coupled with business values rooted in solving clients’ problems, have kept

2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson marketing Group when larry sells his partnership in Detroit and lA 2003

2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by BtoB magazine 4 years running

him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-prof non-profits. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award.

The company reaffirmed its commitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th anniversary with a birthday party and a 25-hour Serve-A-Thon partnership with Hands on Greenville and Habitat for Humanity. JMG’s 103 full-time employees worked in shifts around the clock on October 22 and 23 to help construct a house for a deserving family.

As Jackson inches towards retirement, he says he hasn’t quite figured out his succession plan yet, but sees the companies staying under the same umbrella. He wants to continue to strategically grow the business.

“From the beginning, my father has taught me that this business is all about our people – both our clients and our associates,” said his son, Darrell. “We have created a focus and a culture that strives to solve problems, serve people and grow careers.”

Darrell Jackson said he wants to “continue helping lead a culture where we solve, serve and grow. If we are successful, we will continue to grow towards our ultimate goal of becoming the leading integrated marketing communications brand in the Southeast.”

2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports Group employee base reaches 100 people

2008 2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation with Creative spirit Award

pro-bono/non-proFit / Clients lients American Red Cross of Western Carolinas Metropolitan Arts Council Artisphere Big League World Series The Wilds Advance SC South Carolina Charities, Inc. Aloft Hidden Treasure Christian School

CoMMUnitY nit inVolVeMent nitY in olV inV olVe VeMent & boarD positions lArry JACkson (ChAirmAn): Bob Jones University Board chairman, The Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center board member, Gospel Fellowship Association board member, Past Greenville Area Development Corporation board member, Past Chamber of Commerce Headquarters Recruiting Committee member, Past Greenville Tech Foundation board member

NOV. 20: THE FOODIE ISSUE Supper’s ready – and so are opportunities.

David Jones (Vice President Client services, Chief marketing officer): Hands on Greenville board chairman mike Zeller (Vice President, Brand marketing): Artisphere Board,

Metropolitan Arts Council Board, American Red Cross Board, Greenville Tech Foundation Board, South Carolina Chamber Board

eric Jackson (Jackson motorsports Group sales specialist): Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club Advisory Board

November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21

20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013

AS SEEN IN

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

Anita Harley, Jane Rogers

Jerry Salley jsalley@communityjournals.com Ashley Boncimino, Sherry Jackson, Benjamin Jeffers, Cindy Landrum, April A. Morris

jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years 1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport

1988

Holly Hardin

CLIENT SERVICES

MANAGING EDITOR

UBJ milestone

OPERATIONS

Ryan L. Johnston rjohnston@communityjournals.com Susan Clary Simmons ssimmons@communityjournals.com

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

UBJ milestone

DIGITAL TEAM Emily Price, Danielle Car

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